mantra

hi ho!. my mate and i had brunch at mantra on 7-28-13. food was served cold and over cooked! i know the owner and his partner and noticed neither was there! needless to say, i will not be returning! hope taxis doesn't hit the skids, as well.

great place to get together with friends to visit and for a good meal.

i adore the food at this restaurant, but i have been there twice in the last two weeks and there's something that needs fixin' in their service and/or their kitchen. servers are lovely and attentive when you can track them down, and they seem to spend most of their time hovering at the window to the kitchen and running thru the dining room to deliver food. the restaurant is too noisy for any lingering over one's meal, and eager diners-to-be stack up by the door while other diners wait, wait, wait to request a box and the check. the hassle of it all is enough to make me think twice before returning.

our group made a dinner reservation at 8 on a saturday night. we arrived on time, the restaurant was packed and told the hostess we had arrived. we stood and waited for about ten minutes before asking if they had any idea when our table would be ready. the hostess was very rude and told us she has no idea when the people who were sitting there would leave. she then proceeded to talk loudly about how rude we were to the other customers sitting at the bar. two tables on the walk in list were seated. after twenty more minutes we approached another man working. he was equally rude, never apologized or asked if he could get us a drink while waiting. instead he told us the tables now have been here an hour and a half spending money, how could he predict when they would leave. that a reservation does not guarantee a table. horrible, unapologetic, rude service. we took our $400 bill and service elsewhere. based on how we were treated, i won't be returning!

several visits now and we love mantra! tonight 6 of us were very impressed with our server, riley. friendly, helpful, honest, perky, and attentive. we all tried different entrees, from seafood enchiladas, to thai salad, to meatloaf and potatoes - everything was spot on! we plan to keep bringing friends to show them the new benson, and an amazing place.

this place has a nice vibe. i was impressed by the attentative service despite it being a busy friday evening. highly recommend the lamb burger as well as bacon and tomato flatbread.

bohemian rhapsody. benson keeps reinventing itself. what is now omaha's hottest bohemian neighborhood for food and music has sprouted a nice little bistro on the west end: mantra. open less than a year, this first cousin to west omaha's taxi's bistro has a fresh american vibe flowing through its veins.
the atmosphere is generally attractive* in a modern sort of way, with a bar on one side of the dining room, and an open kitchen off to the side. tables and banquettes offer comfortable seating.
the regular menu leans (heavily) toward lighter fare. salads, sandwiches and specialty tacos predominate. appetizers range from decent crab cakes to mussels done a variety of ways, to two arancinis and two flatbreads.
an ever changing sheet of more substantive dinner fare is always offered. on the night of our visit it included baked salmon over basmati rice, chicken picatta, and bacon wrapped diver sea scallops. about half of the menu is either fish, seafood, or vegetarian.
we split an order of crab cakes as an appetizer. they were good, but nothing compared to what you will find back east. the small dinner salad was also tasty, if unremarkable.
what stood out were the main courses, including seafood enchiladas and seared ahi tuna tacos. the tacos were excellent, a highlight worth traveling out of your way to sample.
we were too full to even share a dessert, however the couple at the next table raved about the pistachio cake french toast. it is mantra's signature menu item.
the wine list offers considerable value, with many bottles in the $20-25 range. about a dozen wines are available by the glass.
service was super friendly, as our waitress answered all of our questions and offered several suggestions from both the appetizer as well as entree menus. she clearly had a full familiarity with the food coming out of the kitchen, an all too rare experience in this town.
now to my *. while the overall dining atmosphere is quite pleasurable, mantra's vibe threatens to be spoiled by no fewer than 7 big screen tvs lining the walls of both the bar as well as the dining room. the sound was off, but here is my gripe...and it is a major one at that: people don't go to dinner to be distracted by huge tv sets. they go out to dinner to get away from huge tv sets. puhleeze, chuck the boob tubes and instead hang a few more interesting paintings on those walls, like you have at taxi's. the change will serve to make mantra an a level neighborhood dining spot.
food: a-
menu sophistication: a-
service: a
atmosphere: b-
value: a

i ate there this past week and loved it!! i also lived neon goose and taxi's!! you have to try the blt!!! it was amazing!!! my dad has good limitations and they were so helpfull!!! i will be back and telling everyone about it!!!

amazing!!!. we had such a great dinner at mantra last friday night. we had heard mixed reviews so decided to try it out ourselves and they have made a loyal customer out of us. everything from the wine, the veggie flatbread, the lamb burger, the grilled veggie foccacia sandwich, blue cheese and cabbage soup.....everything was spot on. our server was great as well. she was honest about items on the menu and suggestions. the only thing i noticed was if you have a party of 5 or more i would call ahead b/c quite a few large parties were coming in and they didn't have tables set up so they had to squeeze. but we will be back!

yum!. i have eaten at manta 7 times so far. it is really cool that it appeals to all age groups. i am 49 and i eat there with my husband or with my 20 something sons and their friends. it is not uncommon to go there and see all age groups. they have an varying menu with seafood, burgers, comfort food, vegetarian selections. on our last visit, my husband ordered escargot and steak, i got soup and a veggie sandwich. two amazing standouts- the blue cheese cabbage soup and pistachio pound cake french toast. i dream about them both.

good food, varied menu, nice atmosphere. my wife and i just had dinner at mantra, located at 6913 maple street. the online menu reflects their take-out/lunch menu so i was pleasantly surprised by the dinner menu the waiter gave us when we came in-includes flat iron steak and a horseradish crusted salmon. they have a nice gas-burner heated patio out front, but we weren't bundled up enough for that. instead we had dinner inside where they have a full bar and six big screen tvs available for watching. (this is not a sports bar, dont worry). we ordered vegetarian flat bread to start and grilled vegetable focaccia with house cut chips and a turkey burger with veg soup for entrees. the flat bread was like a plain cheese pizza with some green onions and pesto dabbed on it-good, but could have had a little more to it, more veg maybe? the veg soup was very good, the turkey burger served on a lovely pretzel bun with avocado and swiss cheese, tasted good also. my wife said the veggie focaccia was good. the chips ok, not special but she'd get them again. for dessert the waiter offered pistachio cake french toast and we caved immediately. it was very light, not a heavy dessert, served with ice cream and maple syrup drizzled over top.
menu prices run around eight bucks and up and take out is available. we will go back again, i want to try the lamb burger and we want to try the fried risotto cakes which they were out of when we were there.

solid. i've been to mantra twice and both times were very solid. this last time was a wednesday night around 8 pm. there weren't many people there, so if you dislike crowds, it's a good time to go. the service was friendly and attentive. the drinks were good and the food was solid. i had the turkey burger, which i really enjoyed. the fries were a basic shoestring type, that could and should be better. my date had salmon, which he enjoyed. all in all a good experience and i'll definitely go again.

great addition to benson!. i recently met some friends at mantra for a sunday brunch. we took advantage of the nice weather and started out seated on the patio sipping on mimosas. the patio is nice with sturdy tables and chairs - not the cheap patio furniture. the patio wraps around 2 sides of the restaurant. after a couple of mimosas we decided to eat our brunch inside. the restaurant is modern in it's decor, and makes you feel comfortable at the same time. i ordered the blt and was blown away. it wasn't your standard blt...it was made with peppered bacon, feta cheese and a drizzle of balsamic on a grilled focaccia bun. i was really unsure if i would like it but i love blt's so thought i'd order it. not your average blt but omg did the flavors blend together brilliantly! loved it...can't wait to have another. we all ordered a slice of french toast for our dessert...i do the same at taxi's, the owner's other restaurant...and for the others at my table it was a hit. i knew it would be!! i have to say my slice of french toast was not as crunchy as taxi's which was a little dissapointing but hopefully we just hit a not "perfect" day for french toast, but again, still enjoyed! everyone in my party loved their food. visit mantra and you won't be dissapointed! look forward to my next visit!

came for dinner and got the fish and chips, what food i got was good, but there sure wasn't very much of it. the rest of the orders in our party were pretty much the same. for the price i don't think it was worth it.

a new favorite. two of us had dinner on a monday (it's great to have a nice place open on monday). meatloaf dinner with mashed potatoes and gravy was very good, and very reasonably priced. i had the special: fresh walleye served over a bed of perfectly cooked and seasoned rice. i'm glad i didn't ask the price; at $23.95 i might have passed on it - it was worth the price! we both had the vegetables, zucchini and yellow squash, also seasoned and cooked perfectly.

i also had a vodka gimlet (well, o.k., so i had two!). perfectly done!

our waiter was just o.k. - seemed a little unprepared, actually. everything else was just perfect! put mantra down as our new "favorite restaurant in omaha."